Auckland NZ - Anyone have tips for moving there?

[nickiw]

DH is having 3rd telephone interview tonight, they seem quite keen and may want us out there in 2 months!! Any tips for good areas to live, schools etc??

What sort of essentials are you thinking of nickiw? Baby stuff? Food?
You can get all baby stuff here ... different brands of formula than in the UK but it is all of a muchness ... do you have a baby?
Can't bring any food into NZ ... they are very strict about food imports ...
If you like IKEA ... buy up the store and ship it all over ... no IKEA here! I find that affordable decent children's furniture is sadly lacking ... if you like to deck your child's room in that kind of stuff that is. All the nice stuff is in specialist shops and is extortionate ... all the affordable stuff is not quite as good quality as in the UK.
Toys ... bring your good toys. Good quality toys are very expensive in NZ ... you can get Early Learning Centre here but it is exclusive and very pricey ... I really miss ELC toys. All brands like Fisher Price and Chicco are really expensive and the cheaper stuff is often really crap and I am sure wouldn't pass EU regulations.
You can get everything here ... unless you give me some pointers I am not sure what you mean by 'essentials' ....
If you are planning to have a baby here, bring some of those paper knickers that you can get in Boots and Mothercare ... no one here has heard of paper knickers!

The boys are 4 and 6 and there are NO plans for anymore! We are trying to decide whether or not to sell up here and start again or to ship gear over. The cost for 1 container is approx £4k, is our stuff worth this (no) will it cost this in NZ (probably), I am wondering about kids shoes & clothes. I will bring all of the toys that they never play with and the PS2 which is glued to their hands. The job offer is coming over tomorrow, so we are off!! Hopefully will get 3 months before start date. Can you tell me, my youngest will be 5 on september 20th. When will he start school? Also in the UK the summer holidays are from 22nd July to 6th Sept, are there any holidays mid winter(uk summer) in NZ. If we do arrive 1st September will the boys go straight into school? I hope this makes sense, not sleeping to well at mo. Thanks for all help.

NZ summer holiday is usually week before Christmas through to near end of Jan I think.
There are August/Sep holidays which are about 2 weeks, Ghosty can probably tell you the dates then both children would start straight away I would think.

Hi NiciW

Both DH and I used to work for EDS in Auckland. Am guessing that your husband will probably be based in the offices in Takapuna (they moved there from the central city just before we moved back to NZ). The other offices are in the CBD (think they still have some there - it's a secure site) and in Mt Wellington at the data centre. At the time we were renting in Mt Eden, and the commute in the morning in the car was about 30 - 40 minutes max, home about the same, as you are going against the flow of traffic. I personally love Mt Eden, as it is really central, lots of lovely old houses, and great schools. The problem is that because it's so nice, it's also very expensive!!

If he's going to be in Mt Wellington, Howick might be a good option for you.

I imagine that they are paying your removal costs, so my biggest piece of advice would be to pay for someone to pack for you, as I packed our stuff when we moved back to the UK and I couldn't stand up for a month!! We were only moving basics though - no furniture or anything.

We're moving back to Auckland in December (that will be my 3rd move between the UK and NZ - and definitely my last!! ) and are seriously considering buying a load of flatpack furniture from IKEA, as when we moved back last time, we found that sort of thing to be quite expensive - they don't have IKEA over there, and the closest alternative is more expensive.

If you're looking for rentals, you could try www.realenz.co.nz This is the site we've been looking at for rentals (we want to buy when we get back, but will have to rent while we look). The rental market is quite good at the moment, as people went a bit mad on buy to lets in the recent property boom, and they are now having trouble finding people to rent to. The other place to look for rentals (no photos though) is the New Zealand Herald (www.nzherald.co.nz) in the classified ads.

HTH and good luck!

kiwifruit, how would you rate EDS? The job is in Takapuna which looks lovely. We are not selling up in the UK just yet so will be renting. We will book into a serviced apartment while looking at areas to live and schools and try to tie up and nice one of each! How would you compare the weather there to here?

EDS has good and bad points (like any job, I guess). It's an enormous organisation, which also has its pluses and minuses - can be cumbersome, but there's a wealth of knowledge to draw on. I did enjoy the people there, and learnt a lot. Feel free to CAT me if you want more info.

Weather is warmer than here in the summer, but not a lot - would say that it's consistently higher temps, but not generally higher than 30C for extended periods. It's quite humid though. Much warmer than London in the winter - don't be shocked when you discover that houses don't have central heating!! You won't really need it there (tends to sit around 7 - 10C in the winter - get the odd frost, but it's relatively rare) - if you were moving south to Christchurch or Dunedin, I would be more concerned about lack of central heating (my family is in ChCh, and it's pretty cold in the winter, but central heating is still relatively rare - you just put on more jumpers and thicker socks!!).

Its really good to 'talk' to someone who has done the same kind of thing! Our main concern is that the reason we are doing this move is for a better lifestyle for us and a great education for the kids. Do you think we can achieve this? Will we be on the beach most days in the summer? Is the education better in NZ for the kids? Kiwifruit you have lived in both places which is your favourite and why? It's a hughe life change for us and we want to be sure it is for the best reasons and worth all the effort and money!!

Well, have to admit that I'm biased, as I'm a Kiwi, but DH is a Brit, and after 3 years in NZ, and 2 back here, he is champing at the bit to get back there (as am I). Think my view of the UK is slightly jaded by the fact that we live in London, which is a pretty hard place to live. I'm pregnant (due in September), and really wouldn't want to bring up my kids in London. I think schooling is better in NZ (I have a number of NZ friends who have taught in London schools and say they wouldn't want their kids to go to school over here, but that's just their opinion, I really don't know too much about it) - the schools have big playgrounds and sports fields, unlike London schools. I also think that NZ kids seem to retain that air of innocence for a bit longer - London kids seem to be a bit 'harder' and grown up (but again, that could just be my personal bias).

As for the beach, you can do that as little or as often as you like - I have friends who go every night after work in the summer. We used to go in the weekends (I introduced DH to boogie boarding, and he was hooked), but that was generally because of where we lived. Would sometimes go in the evenings during the week for a walk though...

If you like outdoor activities and sports, the NZ lifestyle is going to really appeal. We played a lot of golf in NZ, but find access to courses and cost really prohibitive over here. The range of sports for kids is huge, and girls play too - this is my major bugbear over here, there doesn't seem to be much evidence of women participating in sports over here in the media, except at the highest level, which doesn't really provide great role models for young girls... But that's a whole other thread. Climbs back down off soapbox...

In terms of housing, you will get much more 'bang for your buck' in NZ - standard NZ houses are detached with a garden. The older ones tend to be wooden, but newer ones are brick and other materials (beware of brand new houses as there's been problems with leaky homes - always get a full survey done on anything under 10 years old to check for this!!!).

On the other hand, some people find that NZ is quite isolated and not quite as 'exciting' as living in the UK (guess this depends on what you consider to be exciting too...). It really depends what you're looking for I guess. Personally, I would give it a go and rent for a year or so to see how you like it before you sell up over here. It would be tough getting back into the housing market over here again if you were coming from NZ, so best to make sure you're sure before committing.

Hope that helps a bit??? Am trying to be balanced, as have been a bit negative about being here lately (battling with NHS maternity care, noisy upstairs neighbours stamping on our heads, rude people on the tube...), and don't want to paint a falsely rosie picture - there's downsides to everywhere (poor public transport in Auckland being one - much as I moan about the tube, I do think it's fantastic to live in a city the size of London and be able to live without a car quite comfortably!).

This has turned into an essay, and it's time to leave the office now - am more than happy to answer any more questions though!!

thanks for spending so much time helping us on this. If we go, it will be Takapuna, is there an area you would recommend to live near the beach with an easy commute and good schools? Big ask I know !!

I've lived in NZ (1973-1997 aged 3-27) and UK too ever since
I only moved to the Uk as my mother moved out here and I wa born in the UK but brought up as a kiwi and still consider NZ home
We were looking at heading back over last year but chose to stay in UK due to family, all my family is over here now and DH has an extended family which play a large part in our lives.
Also ds (11yo) his natural father relocated to the UK and would be devastated if we moved back to NZ as would ds.
That said, neither DH or I are convinced we made the right choice staying here and not leaving when we could have. We will re evaluate when DS leaves secondary school.
I've never lived in Akld but my brother was a realtor there
so if you have any specifics I can ask him for you
Aside from that go go go and be happy there
You will be at the beach a lot, there is so much of it on your doorstep, as well as sand
I'm so jealous....

I think that if you try to recreate your UK lifestyle here, then you will be dissapointed, we do live differently. If you want to be at the beach all the time - then you will be very happy.

Your dh may have been told this as part of his recruitment, but if they were all kiwis they may not even realise. Working in NZ you have to be more of an all rounder. I tmakes sense with the fewer people, but I got to do all sorts of stuff that I would never have done in the UK in a million years because it would have been a whole other job.

If you are not selling up in the UK I think you should look into putting your big things in storage costwise, and then buying some stuff here, which you either improve and extend if you decide to stay or you sell on Trade Me if you decide to leave. UK furniture does look a little strange transplanted here, and shipping it both ways would be extreme.

I hardly wear any of the clothes I brought from the UK (but then they are 6 years older now) But if you are small you may want to bring several pairs of your favourite pants (trousers in UK) because here they are all incredibly long (great for me at 5'10") and you have to have them taken up.

nicki pretty much all the schools around takapuna, milford are good schools, some have uiforms, some don't. It is quite a high socio-economic area. Stay on the Rangitoto side of the motorway if you are looking at a map. You will need a car but your dh may be able to get a bus to work if you live near a bus route to EDS.

kiwifruit where is the EDS office in Takapuna is at Smales Farm where Clear is located?

Hi Chuffed

EDS is at Smales Farm right next to Telstra Clear (they're in adjoining buildings). Do you work for Telstra?

No currently living in London both dh and I are kiwis and we are moving back to Hauraki Corner next year about May. I was just wondering what the location is for EDS for bus routes for nickiw.

Are you going back to Mt Eden when you get back? We looked at Mt Eden when we looked but dh is from the shore and wanted to be nearer the sea.

We'll rent when we get back initially, and will probably rent in Mt Eden, as we both love it there (and are both more likely to get jobs in the city than on the Shore, and most of our friends are the city side of the bridge, although some have made the move...). Problem with renting in Mt Eden is that it seriously clouded our judgement when we were house hunting to buy before we came back to the UK - nothing else was as central/had as nice houses/good cafes/etc. etc. - problem was that not much was as expensive as Mt Eden either!

We both liked Mt Eden too (and Ponsonby) but just couldn't afford to even get a starter house when we were looking back in 1999. We were lucky to get what we did where we are to be honest. It is a relief to at least have somewhere to go back to even if it isn't really big enough for a family of 4 (all going well). We both worked in the city last time and just took the Bayswater Ferry across to the city.

When we were house hunting last year we seriously looked at Mt Eden ... I love it ... I think it is a lovely part of Auckland. But the house prices are very high. We looked at a 3 bed (nice but not that special) house with a smallish garden. We would have put an offer in but weren't in a position to at the point that someone made an offer. We were given a chance to make a counter offer but we decided to let it go. It sold for $927,000 ... which I think was an awful lot for what it was. Most houses of decent size etc are over $1m in Mt Eden ... (Grammar School Zone pushes prices up massively).
We ended up looking away from the city and found a house in 'old' Howick that is 5 minutes walk from one beach and 7 minutes from another ... much bigger, big section (hard to find in the city) etc etc ... for 2 thirds of that price.
Thing is, if you work in the city, Howick would be a terrible place to commute from. So Mt Eden would be a much better prospect in that way ....
Kiwifruit, when you do move, lets get together ... I can do the 'cafe' thing in Mt Eden anytime

And Chuffed and nickiw ... I am always ready to take a jaunt over the Bridge

look forward to it Ghosty

I'm sure I could do Mt Eden too

You're on ladies - will be back in Auckland in Jan (we're going to be in ChCh until after Christmas) - look forward to it!

Ghosty, I know what you mean about the house prices in Mt Eden - we just got seriously depressed looking around there. We didn't end up buying as we decided that the market was too hot (houses selling on one viewing, going up in 20k lots at auction - much silliness!!) - am hoping that a lot of people over stretched on their mortgages during that period (can't see how they could have been doing anything but!) and are now being hit by the increased interest rates as they come off their fixed term mortgages... The interest rate increases in the last 2 years will make a big difference to a 350k mortgage if you were stretching to start off with, and doesn't sound like salaries have been rising at a commensurate rate. Bring on the mortgagee sales [salacious grin emotion...]

Have also heard a rumour that the Grammar zones are going to change as there is a new high school opening up near Cornwall Park. Not sure if this is true, or something I dreamed, but could affect house prices in some of that central area (although highly unlikely to hit Mt Eden, I would have thought...).

Sorry to hijack your thread niciw !!

No problem, lots of interesting info in your chats! Just waiting for the offer to come thru, should have been today, we will keep everything crossed!!

kiwifruit that is exactly what we are hoping will happen re: interest rates etc as we are going to have to get a bigger house and would like one with more section but time will tell. Somehow people are able to afford these huge mortgages.

Have a sneaking suspiscion that a lot of people were buying beyond their means (or at least right up to their means) - think a lot of people are on a house of cards, with stacked mortgages on rental properties as well.

NickiW - have got fingers and toes crossed re the job!

We havent received offer yet but have flights on hold - how bizarre!! Thanks for all your help with this.

We are on!!! feeling quite scared now!!! flights booked to arrive 18.8.05. Better start packing!!!